Cato Institute on Environment

Cato Institute on Endangered Species

Substantially restructure endangered species law

The effects on individual property owners should be sufficient witness to the injustice of the distribution of the private costs [of species recovery plans].

Federal endangered species legislation must be substantially restructured. Current law would
lead to a progressive restriction on other federal activities & private land use, a spreading revolt of small property owners & local governments, & slower economic growth without any reason to expect an improved record of protecting endangered species.

Source: Cato Handbook for the 105th Congress
, Jan 1, 1997

Cato Institute on Parks & Public Land

US government owns 1/3 of all land-privatize it

U.S. Government owns about 1/3 of all land in the U.S. Only a tiny fraction of the vast federal land holdings are of environmental or historical significance. Federal holdings that should be transferred to private ownership
should include: non-environmentally sensitive federal lands, federal dams, federal oil reserves, public housing, and the federal helium reserve.

Source: Cato web site
, Jul 2, 2000

Move public lands into private hands

Public land management does not always deliver what the citizens expect for the treasury or for the environment.

The government actually loses money in the course of managing federal land estimated to be worth billions.

The government has a
poor record for ecological stewardship.

The argument that federal agents are better land manager’s than private owners is suspect in theory, it is dubious in fact.

Cato Institute on Pollution

EPA embodies regulatory extremism

The EPA has long embodied the worst regulatory extremism found in the federal bureaucracy.

Eliminating successive amounts of emissions becomes ever more expensive. Americans are paying between $4 and $28 for every $1 in health benefits.

Demanding
unreasonable emission cuts is unhealthy as well as expensive, because wasting money on regulations of marginal benefits diverts resources from a variety of product and technological advances, like pharmaceuticals, which would yield far greater benefits.

Source: Doug Dandow, “Regulators at EPA Running Amok”
, Apr 4, 1997

Cato Institute on Population

There is no population problem

There is no population problem. Population growth is the result of the plunging death rate and increasing life expectancy worldwide. That is progress. The growth in human population has been more than met by increases in the production of food
and other resources, including energy. Famine in the 20th century is a political rather than an ecological phenomenon. We are not running out of resources, and real prices of raw materials are lower than ever before. Population growth and economic
growth are compatible. Between 1776 and 1975, while the world’s population increased six fold, real gross world product rose about 80-fold. People are net resource producers. Countries are not poor because their populations are
growing. England, U.S., Hong Kong, and others became rich during unprecedented growth in population. The most densely populated nations are among the richest.